If you bought a My Choice ticket package for TIFF 2012, then you will be able to select your films ahead of the actual festival. This page describes the process for selecting those films.

1. First, decide on which films you want to see, and when you want to see them. Make a list of the films and times and sort by date and then name. If you are selecting tickets for more than just yourself, then also note the number of tickets you want for each screening. This will make it faster to select your films. You may also want to note any backup choices in case your first choice is sold out.

2. Check the e-mail you received from TIFF with your start time. If you did not receive an e-mail, then contact TIFF customer service. On or after your start time, go to http://tiff.net/gettickets/packageticketselection. If you do not have access to a computer, then you can call or visit the Festival Box Office to make your selections on or after your start time.

Enter the e-mail address and the password you set up when you purchased your ticket package, along with the Package Code that was in your e-mail. If you received more than one Package Code, then you must complete each package one-at-a-time. Note that if you did not purchase all your packages in one transaction, then you may receive different start times for each package.

If the start time for your package has not yet arrived, the site will alert you that your e-mail address, password, and package code are correct, but that you cannot sign in yet. If you continue to get this message even after your start time, then contact TIFF customer service.

3. Once you have successfully signed in, you will see the screen below:

Note the instructions on the screen. Once you select your first screening, you will have 60 minutes to complete your selections and checkout. If you fail to checkout before the 60 minutes are up, your order will be cancelled out, and you will receive vouchers instead of your selected screenings. If you checkout but don't pick all your screenings, you will receive vouchers for the remaining tickets.

Note once you checkout and then log out of the system, you will not be able to re-enter with that package code. You must make all your selections in one shot.

4. Now you can begin to select your films. You can search for films by schedule (i.e. by date), or by title. People have generally reported more success with searching by schedule. Click on the day of the screening you want to see. In this case, we will click on Friday, September 7.

5. You will now see a listing of all the films on that day, along with the time of the screening.

If a particular screening is sold out, it will be marked as such instead of showing the time of the screening. In the image below, The Brass Teapot has been marked off sale and cannot be selected.

6. Scroll to the screening you desire and click the time. Here, we are picking Rust and Bone at 12:00 PM.

7. You will be taken to a window where you can select the number of tickets you want to use. If the dropdown is empty or only has a 0, then click the By Schedule button at the top of the screen and try again, or make one of your other choices first and then try the original film again.

8. Once you have selected your quantity of tickets, click the Add To Cart button at the bottom of the page. This will take you to your shopping cart where you can see your selections.

9. Repeat steps 4 to 8 for the remaining tickets in your package. You can check the total at the bottom of your shopping cart to see if you've used all your tickets yet.

Also keep an eye on the timer at the top of the page. Most people have completed their orders in under 30 minutes, but if a lot of your screenings are sold out and you end up searching for backups, you could eat up time quickly. TIFF recommends that you checkout before the timer gets to 5:00 remaining.

10. Once you have used all your tickets, click the Checkout button at the top of the page. The Checkout screen should already show your first name and last name. Re-enter your Package Code in the indicated field, and then click the Continue button.

11. On the confirmation screen, do one final check to make sure your screening selections are correct and that you've used up the proper number of tickets. If everything is ok, then click the "Yes, I have completed my package ticket selections" box and click the Submit button.

12. You should then see a Order Complete screen. Note the reservation number for your records. You will also receive this number in a confirmation e-mail, but it's probably a good idea to note it in case you don't get the e-mail.

13. You can pick up your tickets starting September 4 at the Festival Box Office at Metro Centre. You will need a print out of your confirmation e-mail, the credit card you used to purchase your package, and government-issued ID. TIFF Members can pick up their tickets at the Member Box Office or the Bell Lightbox (the latter only for Patrons Circle Members).

If you encounter any error messages while filling out your order online, try clicking the By Schedule or By Title buttons; do not try to logout. I got an error once, but I just clicked on the By Schedule button and was able to continue on; my session was still active and my shopping cart still had all my selections.

This post is a placeholder for people to add comments for any films that they notice as sold out when completing the online ticketing process for My Choice packages for TIFF 2012. Feel free to post a comment for anything you see as sold out when you log in to make your picks to help others out.

Update (2012/09/02 9:33 PM): Updated list with additional off-sales:

2012-09-06
After the Battle
End of Time, The
Far Out Isn't Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story
Kinshasa Kids
Looper
On the Road
Rust and Bone
Ship of Theseus
Tabu

2012-09-07
7 Boxes
After the Battle
All That Matters is Past
Anna Karenina
Call Girl
Deep, The
How to Make Money Selling Drugs
Imogene
Like Someone in Love
Master, The
Me and You
Men at Lunch
On the Road
Out in the Dark
Pervert's Guide to Ideology, the
Picture Day
Place Beyond the Pines, The
Rust and Bone
Seven Psychopaths
Shanghai
Short Cuts Canada: Programme #1
Spring Breakers
Stories We Tell
Wasteland

2012-09-08
Amour
Anna Karenina
Argo
Attack, The
Blancanieves
Brass Teapot, The
Capital
Cloud Atlas
Color of the Chameleon, The
End of Time, The
End of Watch
Everybody Has a Plan
Imogene
Inch'allah
Jackie
Kon-Tiki
Liar's Autobiography: The Untrue Story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman, A
Lunarcy!
Master, The
Me and You
Men at Lunch
Much Ado About Nothing
Perks of Being a Wallflower, The
Picture Day
Place Beyond the Pines, The
Road North
Satellite Boy
Seven Psychopaths
Short Cuts Canada: Programme #1
Short Cuts Canada: Programme #2
Stories We Tell
Thanks for Sharing
Underground
Wasteland
Wavelengths 2: Documenta
West of Memphis
What Maisie Knew
Yellow

2012-09-09
7 Boxes
9.79*
American Masters: Inventing David Geffen
At Any Price
Blackbird
Brass Teapot, The
Byzantium
Call Girl
Central Park Five, The
Cloud Atlas
Deep, The
Gatekeepers, The
Ginger and Rosa
Holy Quaternity, The
I Declare War
In the Name of Love
Krivina
Last Supper, The
Like Someone In Love
Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God
Mr. Pip
Much Ado About Nothing
Museum Hours
Perks of Being A Wallflower, The
Pusher
Reluctant Fundamentalist
Road North
Sapphires, The
Short Cuts Canada: Programme #2
Silver Linings Playbook
Something in the Air
Spring Breakers
Thermae Romae
Wavelengths 3: I Am Micro
When Day Breaks
Zaytoun

2012-09-10
Capital
Casting By
Color of the Chameleon, The
Company You Keep, The
End, The
Ghost Graduation
Hunt, The
Iceman
Inch'allah
Late Quartet, A
Lords of Salem, The
Love Is All You Need
Midnight's Children
No
No Place On Earth
Quartet
Short Cuts Canada: Programme #3
To The Wonder
Underground

On Twitter, appears people have been generally having favourable experiences with the new online system for picking tickets for the My Choice packages. One person mentioned an issue with quantities not showing up in a dropdown, but they said something about switching from alpha to date selection solved the problem.

I'll post more information once I've had a chance to go through the system myself.

Update (2012/08/25 8:48 AM): Check out In a TIFF for a description of the online ticketing process and some tips.

Update (2012/08/25 9:02 AM): Check out matthew5000's comment for more info on the process.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Today, August 20, 2012, TIFF sent out notifications of the ticket selection windows for anyone who purchased a My Choice ticket package. If you didn't receive a notification by e-mail, I suggest you check your junk mail folder or contact TIFF customer support if you really didn't get anything, but do it before August 23.

Starting August 21, the official film schedule will be released, which lists all the movies at this year's festival, and the dates and times at which the movies will be shown. You can view the schedule online, or pick up a paper copy at the Festival Box Office. If you purchased a Programme Book, you should also be able to pick it up starting on the 21st.

For TIFF Members, ticket selection will occur between August 23 and August 26. For non-TIFF Members, ticket selection will occur between August 26 and August 29. Your actual start time will have been e-mailed to you. Note that if you bought a Back Half or Daytime package, your ticket window will actually occur sometime between September 3 and 5.

If you bought multiple packages, you apparently will receive a separate login for each package. However, if you bought all your packages in the same transaction, you will get the same start time for all of them, but you may still have to login separately for each one.

You can make your selections online at the TIFF website anytime between your allotted start time and 7:00 PM on August 29. If you fail to make your selections by the 29th, then you must wait until 10:00 AM on September 3. You have from then until 7:00 PM on September 5. If you still fail to make your selections within that second period, after that you'll get vouchers that you can redeem for tickets, but you'll have to line up at the box office in person to do so.

If you don't have a computer to make your selections online, you can go to the Festival Box Office starting at your allotted time and the staff will assist you.

When you log into the site to make your selections, you must pick all your films in that session. You cannot make some of your selections, log out, and then log in again at a later date to finish. Once you log in, best information at this point indicates you may only have one hour to complete your selections, so plan your picks ahead of time. For example, if you bought a 60-pack, you would have to select one film on average every minute to complete on time.

Note that if you get a start time of say 8:00 AM on August 27, you don't have to log in at that very moment. You can login anytime from that start time until 7:00 PM on August 29. Whenever you do log in, you will have one hour to make your picks.

If you fail to make all your picks within your session, you will receive vouchers for the remaining films, which you can redeem at the Festival Box Office starting September 4.

Some tips:

Since you have a limited amount of time to select your screenings, plan your choices in advance. The full schedule will be available starting August 21, so you'll likely have a few days to plan out the films you want to see before your window opens.

Pick multiple backup choices in case your first choice is already sold out, especially if you are picking screenings likely to be more popular (e.g. ones with a famous cast or a lot of buzz). You may not have enough time available to pick an alternate on the fly.

The site may not prevent you from selecting conflicting screenings, so the onus is on you to make sure your screenings do not overlap. Don't forget to leave time to get from one film to another, and don't forget to account for the fact screenings may start late or run long with Q&A sessions (i.e. avoid scheduling movies within 30 minutes of one another unless they are in the same theatre, as you'll likely never make it).